Showing one more time why the taxpayers bailed out the banks for the ‘professional’ expertise, Bank of America will pay borrowers $108 million:

Bank of America will pay $108 million to settle federal charges that Countrywide Financial Corp., which it acquired nearly two years ago, collected outsized fees from borrowers facing foreclosure.

It’s the latest evidence of misconduct at Countrywide, once an industry giant that has since fallen. Last year, three top executives, including former CEO Angelo Mozilo, were charged with civil fraud and insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Not to worry. These sleazeballs had the best interests of their clients at heart:

Countrywide hit borrowers who were behind on their mortgages with fees of several thousand dollars at times, the FTC said. The fees were for such services as property inspections and landscaping that far exceeded market rates. Countrywide created subsidiaries to hire vendors, which marked up the price for such services, the agency said.

“Countrywide profited from making risky loans to homeowners during the boom years, and then they profited again when the loans failed,” Leibowitz said.

But, if you thought Countrywide was the ONLY one, well…

Banks have not done enough to prevent foreclosures because of the income they receive from these sort of fees, consumer advocates allege. In a 2007 conference call with investors that was cited by FTC lawyers, a top Countrywide executive called such fees “part of our diversification strategy” as foreclosures soared.

“This is an ongoing problem,” said Diane Thompson, a lawyer with the National Consumer Law Center. “Those default fees are huge barriers to loan modifications.”

Get that? The excessive fees were a profit center. They stole from people by defrauding them by not explaining the risky loans and then turned around and stole again by charging them excessive fees. And then the victims (read: taxpayers) bailed out these same banks??? Way to go America! I am glad crime doesn’t pay.

No wonder we are in such trouble in this country. Between this and the inability to close down our border, what other evidence do you need to see to prove this generation has no concept of managing this country. We are doomed.